Eating a Big Breakfast May Help Women With Fertility Problems

Having trouble conceiving? Timing may be everything, but we're not just talking about time of month. A new study suggests that the timing of when you eat the most calories during the day can give you an edge in the fertility game.

If you're eager to become pregnant but having difficulty conceiving, you might want to take a look at when you're doing most of your eating during the day. A new study, published in the journal Clinical Science, has found that eating more calories in the morning rather than the evening can help put women who are having trouble conceiving on the right path toward making a baby.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University looked at 60 normal weight women who were having trouble conceiving because of irregular periods associated with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), the most common cause of infertility. Around 10 percent of women have PCOS, a condition that occurs when the body uses insulin improperly leading the ovaries to produce too much testosterone, which in turn disrupts ovarian function and a normal menstrual period. The women were divided into two groups and were allowed to eat approximately 1,800 calories a day. One group ate their largest meal at breakfast, while the other ate the bulk of their calories (around 980 calories) at dinner.

The researchers found that the women who ate a big breakfast had their insulin resistance and levels of glucose decrease by eight percent. The group who ate the bigger dinner saw no change in their glucose levels or insulin resistance. What's more, testosterone levels in the breakfast group dropped by nearly 50 percent, while the level of those in the dinner group didn't change at all. Even more encouraging was that there was a much higher rate of ovulating woman within the breakfast group compared to the dinner group.

Bottom line? If you have PCOS and are having difficulty conceiving, it may help to switch your big calorie intake to the morning. So think bigger (and healthy) when it comes to breakfast. Whip up a double-egg veggie omelet, grab a whole wheat black bean burrito, add some dried fruit and nuts to your oatmeal, or chow down on some blueberry muffins with a yogurt fruit smoothie on the side. It could help make your road to baby making a lot shorter!